The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 9

destroying it.
Then I grabbed Kyo by the collar and used skills with my right hand.

“Attack Support! Raphtalia! Rishia! Filo!”
“Yes! Misty Moon!”
Raphtalia lowered her sword then quickly sliced upwards. The blade flashed,
and a darkened, ghostly moon-like disc appeared, spinning and slicing at Kyo ’s
torso.
Then . . .

“Hyaaa!”
Rishia dashed forward in a perfect emulation of Eclair ’s thrust, her short
sword shining.
The sword plunged deep into Kyo ’s chest.
“Hey book-guy! You made the Spirit Tortoise lady cry! Book-guy, say
goodbye!”

Filo swiped her claws right through Kyo ’s throat.
“A . . . Ah . . . ARGH ?! ”
Kyo was unable to speak , but it wasn’t over yet!
Spirit Tortoise energy was running from the cuts and wounds all over his
body. I used my shield to absorb it all.

“Not done yet!”
“That’s right! Brave Blade: Mist!”
“Haikuikku!”
“I’m not finished! So many great people have died because of you! I will not
forgive you!”

I still had a grip on Kyo ’s collar, so everyone was able to make an additional
attack.

“Rafuuu!”

Poor Raph-chan . She wasn’t strong enough to join in.

But she wasn ’t content to sit back and watch. She jumped up on my
outstretched arm and started punching him in the face.

Yes! I finally had enough power to switch back to the Spirit Tortoise Shield.
But it wasn ’t time for that. Kyo was already beaten to a bloody pulp.

“You . . . You think you can . . . I’ll . . .”

“What do I care? You killed my friend Ost! You killed so many! My anger . . .
Our anger will wipe you from existence!”

I leaned all my weight forward and threw him against the wall.

“Shield Prison! Change Shield (attack)! Iron Maiden!”

The cage of shields appeared around him and spikes appeared on the inside
of the cage closing around him. Finally he was enclosed in a giant iron maiden,
piercing him through in all directions.

The problem with Iron Maiden was that it used all of my SP, but with any luck
it would be enough to finish him off. Truthfully, All Sacrifice Aura had basically
made a drawn-out battle impossible.

“. . . ?!”

Kyo ’s screams echoed throughout the laboratory.

Finally, the iron maiden opened and disappeared. Kyo had been stabbed all
over. He tottered, and fell forward.

Ugh . . . I was in so much pain I could hardly see straight. But I couldn’t fall. I
couldn’t let myself fall—not while the battle was still on!

“D . . . Damn . . . Not . . . over.”

The punk was still alive!

He clumsily tried to heal his wounds, glaring at us as he did.

All the energy draining from him continued to stream into my shield.

Raphtalia and the others were all exhausted and out of breath .

“It’s over! You haven’t seen anything yet! The forbidden composition . . .”

Kyo held his book aloft—the cover had changed dramatically. It was ominous
and frightful.

It must have been his equivalent of the curse series.

Damn it! If he had a stronger attack up his sleeve, we were out of options.

I had already used my strongest support magic—and the Shield of Wrath too!

I didn ’t know what to do—then Ost passed through my mind.

. . . That’s right. She . . . she would want to finish him.

I changed to the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield.

The indicator that only twenty percent of the necessary energy had charged
up suddenly flashed and, as if it knew exactly what was going on, changed to
read one hundred percent.

“My strongest attack will kill you all! Revelation!”

“Energy Blast!”

A pedestal formed from magic appeared before me. I set my shield on it and
readied myself to destroy everything in my path. I fired Energy Blast!

At the same time, Kyo ’s book opened and creepy white feathers flew from it.
They turned and danced in the air. They almost looked black depending on the
angle.

Then I knew why. Every feather started firing burning, black lasers around the
room.

Then many of the feathers clumped together in one spot, and all their laser
beams converged to form a giant black beam that slammed into my Energy
Blast beam, stopping it in midair.

Other feathers flew back to Kyo and encircled him, healing his wounds.

The skill was offensive and defensive at the same time ?! It was healing his
wounds and attacking us at the same time!

But judging from the way Kyo had avoided using it, and the things he ’d said, I
was guessing there was some risk involved on his side.

“Ahahaha! What do you think? You’re greatest move is nothing compared to
mine! Ahaha!”

“Damn.”

Slowly, inch by inch , my Energy Blast beam was losing ground.

I focused and gave it all the power, emotion, and determination that I had—
but it was still losing to Kyo’s skill.

If his attack broke through Energy Blast, how was I supposed to protect
Raphtalia and the others? I wasn ’t sure if my shield could take a direct hit from
that black beam of his.

If I lost, if the beam broke through, we would all die. Rishia, Raphtalia, Raph-
chan, Filo—they’d all die.

That single thought ran through my mind, and I couldn ’t tell how much time
was passing. I was filled with a sense of inevitable loss, of losing things you can’t
get back.

Time slowed to a crawl, but my heart was pounding quickly in my chest.

I felt myself slipping into solitude and despair , but then I heard voices calling
for me.

“Mr. Naofumi!”

“Master!”

“Naofumi-san!”

“Rafuuu!”

Everyone called for me, rushing forward to support me and keep me on my
feet.

That ’s right. I wasn’t fighting this battle alone.

And I . . . I wasn’t about to lose. Not here!

There was a reason I was here, a reason I ’d made it this far.

For Ost , for all those that had been sacrificed to this man’s insanity . . .

And that ’s not all.

It was for those I couldn ’t save, the enemies I defeated, and the friends that
fought with me.

I carried all their wishes, all their hopes with me . I had to make sure justice
was served.

Just then, a light came flying though the wall and flew into my shield.

Was it the mirror vassal weapon?

Many mirrors appeared in the air around me, concentrating the Energy Blast
beam.

“The mirror vassal weapon ?! ”

“Everyone and everything hates you! It isn’t hard to see why!”

A pulse like a heartbeat thumped inside my shield. The gemstone set in its
center filled with energy and began to glow.

63% . . . 61% . . . 58% . . . 62% . . . 65%.

The energy was slowly depleted before it stopped and began to rise again.

It was almost like it was reacting to my willpower.

“W . . . What ?! ”

98% . . . 105% . . . 110% . . . 120% . . . 130%.

As the energy level surpassed one hundred percent, the beam grew stronger
and thicker, moving in pulsing waves until it began to push back Kyo ’s attack.

“HA! Not yet! That’s not enough to beat me!”

He produced another bookmark and slid it into his book. The number of
feathers dancing in the air increased, but it wasn ’t enough to keep up with the
rapidly strengthening Energy Blast coming from my shield.

“Haaaaaaaa!”

The pedestal of light was formed of magic, so I quickly sent that energy
flowing directly into the attack. Finally, the beam was powerful enough to blast
through Kyo ’s attack.

“This is it! It’s over!” I shouted, bracing my back foot and pressing the shield

forward.

Raphtalia and the others stood behind me, their hands on my back, pressing
me forward, supporting my weight.

“Mr. Naofumi! We’re almost there!”

“You can do it!”

“This is it! We can do it! For Ost-san!” Rishia steadied her footing and
launched her short sword at Kyo.

The shining blade flew beside the Energy Blast beam, absorbing it s light. The
blade was unharmed. In fact, it seemed imbued with new and furious power.

The shining blade sliced through the remaining black light from Kyo ’s attack
before plunging deep into his chest.

The whole sequence reminded me of the battle we ’d already fought with Kyo
—the one in the Spirit Tortoise Core chamber.

But there was one important difference.

That time, Rishia had thrown her sword to save another hero . This time, she
threw it to defeat Kyo.

“Cough! Ugh! You bitch!”

I didn ’t have time to see how the blade had hit him, how it had hurt him,
because at that same moment the energy blast completely overpowered his
attack and burst through.

He was engulfed in crackling light. It burned and scorched.

“Gyaaaaa!”

His skill was washed away in a torrent of light. Our attack—and Ost’s too—
pierced through his heart.



The beam blasted a hole through the wall that led outside.
Kyo stood before it. Clutching his stomach, he fell to the ground, battered and
beaten.
He was a stubborn bastard. I wished the Energy Blast had just vaporized him.
“If he tries so heal himself, what are we supposed to do?”
Rishia stalked over to him and used the handle of her sword to roll him over.
“Ugh . . . you . . . Kill you all . . .”
It didn ’t look like he’d be getting up anytime soon.
Still, I was shocked he was still alive after taking a hit like that.
But he was haggard, and seemed to be hanging on by a thread. He coughed
up blood, and his breath was heavy and weak.
He ’d die soon.
“Time to repent. Any last words?”
“Who’s . . . dying? It’s just . . . because . . .”
He didn ’t finish his sentence before he died.
Suddenly the gravity field grew lighter.
It left a bad taste in my mouth—watching someone die.
But knowing justice had been served helped lessen my feelings of guilt.
“I suppose this means we’ve won.”
“I suppose so.”
But the energy he stole from the Spirit Tortoise hadn ’t returned yet.
Had we wasted it? Had it been used up in the battle?
I looked at the book of the vassal weapons.
It rose softly into the air. I thought it would fly off, but it didn ’t.
Instead it shot over to the area where Kyo had originally appeared.

“Rafuu! Rafuuuuuu!” Raph-chan was barking and pointing desperately at the
book, trying to indicate its destination.

“Filo, turn back into your filolial form and stomp that whole area flat!”

“Okay!” she shouted, transforming in to her filolial form and dashing forward
to cut off the book.

I chased after them both. That’s when I figured out what all the fuss was
about soon enough.

There was a tank jutting from the floor, and inside it was . . . Kyo’s body.

There was no way to tell if we ’d been fighting a homunculus this whole time,
or if that person had been real and this person in the tank was a homunculus.

But one thing was certain: it was being used for experiments to turn the body
into a vessel for the power of the Spirit Tortoise.

“Well, well . . .” I switched to the Shield of Wrath, summoned a blaze of black
flames, and snatched the book out of the air. “Look at that. Who knows if this is
the real Kyo, or if we just defeated the real Kyo. But I know one thing for sure: I
don’t plan on sticking around to see if this thing reanimates and starts that
whole battle all over again.”

Raph-chan was barking and pointing, like she could see Kyo ’s soul.

“Rafu,” she chirped, jumping up onto my shoulder and placing her paw on my
head.

I could see something. Whatever remnant of his soul that was stored in the
book was floating out from its pages and toward the body in the tank. It looked
like a ghostly thread floating on the air.

It slowly changed to resemble a person, but it didn’t look anything like Kyo. It
looked like a skinny man in his thirties. Is that what his soul looked like?

“Ahaha! You think I’d be defeated so easily? Just you wait! This body is filled
with the power of the Spirit Tortoise, and once I join with it, you’re all as good
as dead! I’m invincible!”

It sure sounded like Kyo.

The soul is a mirror for the heart—I guess.

“Rishia!”

“Y . . . Yes!”

“Throw an ofuda at that thing, the one you got from Kizuna!” I shouted,
pointing at the tank with Kyo’s body inside. The soul was just before it, reaching
out its ghostly hand desperately to touch it.

“Kyo! I won’t let you forget what you did to Tsugumi and the other women,
what you did to Albert. Have you forgotten?”

Kyo turned around and his face was pale.

He had figured out what I was planning.

“W . . . Wait! I swear! I’ll let you live if you help me! Let’s talk this over!”

“It’s too late for that. I’m tired of dealing with you. Here’s what you would say
in my shoes, ‘ You idiot! Why would you believe that? Everyone lies when they
are begging for their lives!’”

“Ha!” Rishia threw the ofuda and activated it.

It was a control ofuda, and we ’d already imbued it with a monster. Back in
the previous world we called it a Soul Eater.

In this world, they called it a Soul Devourer.

It was the natural enemy of spirits—a monster that fed on souls.

When I thought of Trash #2’s behavior, the concept of homunculi, and that an
alchemist could invent spare bodies to be killed, I prepared the ofuda. I had
thought, I bet Kyo would make things like that. And I was right!

“Are you kidding me? A dumb monster like that? You think that thing can
defeat me?”

The evil spirit—Kyo’s ghost—flew to attack us.

I could see it clearly now. He was nothing but a monster.

“Raphtalia, I don’t know if the vassal weapon will be much use against an
enemy with no body.”

“Excellent point. Then I will use a skill, along with the katana I gained from the
Soul Eater materials.”

Kyo floated to attack, but he was too slow. I grabbed him, and a pale light
flashed from the katana in Raphtalia’s hand.

“Spirit Blade: Soul Slice!”

Sacrifice Aura was still affecting her.

A ghost attack was nothing to worry about. He was just another weakling.

“Cough! I . . . I’ll return. Reborn! Stronger than . . .”

He fell to pieces before he could finish his threat, and the Soul Eaters that
Rishia had summoned rushed in for their meal.

The sounds of their chewing and crunching echoed through the room, before
they dispersed, satisfied, and floated around us.

He died talking about reincarnation. What a joke.

“Now to take care of this soulless body. If we destroy it, the Spirit Tortoise
energy should return to us. “

“Let’s do it!”

“You can do it!”

“Feh . . .”

Uh-oh. Now that the battle was over Rishia sounded just like her old self
again.

I was exhausted, and I knew I couldn ’t continue to use the Shield of Wrath IV.
I needed to get my strength back, so I switched to the Spirit Tortoise Heart
Shield and shouted: “Raphtalia! Filo! Destroy everything!”

They nodded, reared back, and ran around breaking everything they could.

His research was gone. No one would be able to recreate it now.

“Ost. I kept my promise,” I whispered, remembering her.

Epilogue: Kizuna Between Worlds

When we killed Kyo and destroyed the body in the tank that was housing the
Spirit Tortoise ’s energy, the energy burst free and went into my shield. It took a
while for all the energy to make its way into the shield, but it did eventually.

In the meantime, it looked like Kizuna and the others must have finished the
battle with the wave, because our levels returned to the way they were before.

The crystal in the center of the shield was now glowing so brightly that it was
blinding.

Duty fulfilled. Spirit Tortoise energy recovered.
Time remaining for special processing to complete repatriation . . . 71:55.

The words appeared before my eyes.
I guess it really was over.
Now that the Spirit Tortoise energy had been recovered, we could only
remain in this world for three more days.
When the time ran out, I guess it meant we would be sent back to the
previous world automatically.
“Alright then, we’d better get going.”
“Right.”
“I’m tiiiired!”
Everyone seemed to grow even more exhausted at the thought of all the
effort it would take to get back to the castle.
“Everyone, what happened?”
“It’s the curse. You’d better not touch us.”
Maybe I was being a little over-dramatic, but using Sacrifice Aura really had

lowered all our stats significantly.

Luckily for me, the curse didn ’t touch my defense rating—but all my other
stats had fallen. Judging from the numbers, they seem to have fallen to about
thirty percent.

Had it only affected me, it would have been the same as Blood Sacrifice, but
this time it had affected Raphtalia and Filo too. With how things were, I didn’t
think we could survive another fight.

“There’re monsters on the way home, aren’t there?”

“Yeah . . . there are.”

And I didn ’t want to meet them. What if we came all this way, only to die on
the way home?

Maybe it would be better to stay where we were until we felt better .

I didn ’t have time to worry about that though, because I suddenly found the
book and mirror vassal weapons floating in the air near us. It looked like . . .
well, it almost looked like they were thanking us.

They ’d either fly off to find new masters, or stick themselves somewhere and
wait for someone worthy to appear, like Excalibur had done.

They floated softly out of the room, stopping and turning to us, as if they
were trying to show us the way. Sometimes they would float in front of a
doorway and block us from passing through it—but why?

Luckily, we didn ’t run into any of Kyo’s holy beast copies.

We slowly made our way up from the basement and back down the path we
’d used to enter the laboratory.

“Can you use Portal Shield?”

I tried to use it, but it was still being blocked by something.

Wandering around and drawing attention to ourselves wasn ’t smart, so we
took our time, moving cautiously. Probably two hours or so had passed when
we entered a room with a mirror on the wall. The mirror vassal weapon floated
into it and disappeared.

A second later . . .
“N . . . Naofumi!”

Kizuna and the others all stepped out of the mirror.
What had just happened? Had it flown to where they were and brought them
to us?
“This mirror just appeared in front of us and . . . Is that Kyo’s laboratory?
What happened to Kyo ?! ”
“If we’d lost, you’d probably be fighting him now, no?”

“I guess that’s a good point. Are you okay? You all look exhausted.”
“We used the forbidden technique, and the price we paid wiped us out. Don’t
make me explain it all.”
“Are you alright?”
“Not really. Our stats have plummeted. It’s kind of serious. We were just
thinking of sticking around and recuperating. Without your help, I’m not sure
we can do much else.”

L ’Arc reached out and slipped an arm under my shoulder, supporting me.
Therese and Glass were helping Raphtalia.
Filo was a bit shorter, so Kizuna and Ethnobalt helped her stay on her feet.
“You did good, Kiddo. You beat Kyo without our help.”

“The freak had tons of tricks up his sleeve. It was a pain.”
Yomogi spoke up next, softly, “What about Kyo?”
“He’s back in that room, dead. We killed his soul too—the guy had a backup
body prepared.”
“Is that so? I wish it had been by my hand, but thank you.”

The book of the vassal weapons flew around the perimeter of the room once,
then slipped through the wall and disappeared.

“It looks like the book and the mirror of the vassal weapons protected you
until we were able to meet up.”

Glass nodded. I couldn ’t argue with that. We hadn’t met any monsters and
the mirror had brought our friends directly to us.

“Yeah, I guess they did. We didn’t run into any of the holy beast copies—or
fall into any of Kyo’s stupid booby traps.”

“That mist that barred our entry seems to have dissipated as well. That’s why
we were able to get here so quickly.”

The vassal weapons had been a huge help. I guess it was them showing us
their thanks for releasing them from Kyo’s control. Those vassal weapons sure
knew how to treat a guy right, unlike a certain shield I knew of.

“Let’s head home. I’m guessing you still have some time in our world, since
you completed your mission?”

“Yeah. About three days.”

“Three days, huh? Guess we’ll have to say our goodbyes pretty soon, eh
Kiddo?”

“I guess so.”

“I’m not sure this is the best place to have this conversation. Why don’t we
board my ship and leave this place?” Ethnobalt said, tapping his staff on the
floor.

I guess the guy had managed to stay alive. Even after pulling one of those
“don’t worry about me! Go on without me!” stunts.

It ’s better that he didn’t die, right? Whatever. I wasn’t about to disagree with
getting back to the castle as soon as possible.

All I wanted to do was get some rest.

It had been one fight after another for so long now.

I didn ’t even know where to start counting the battles I’d been in since we
crossed over to this world.

We quickly climbed into Ethnobalt ’s ship and returned to safety.

Once we landed, the mirror of the vassal weapons took off, flying away.

Was it looking for a new master? Or would it stick itself in a boulder like

Excalibur, awaiting someone worthy?

As for the country that Kyo had manipulated into war, Yomogi went back to
meet with their leaders that very same day and exposed all of Kyo ’s misdeeds.
As proof she brought Tsugumi and the other women with her. On top of that,
the book of the vassal weapons itself appeared in the capital and played back
recordings of all the words Kyo had exchanged with us.

Furthermore, when they lost Kyo, they lost a great deal of their technology
too. Apparently, the main force of their army was Kyo ’s holy beast copies .
They all went crazy when Kyo died. The war was essentially over at that point.
They were at a disadvantage. But when Kyo’s most trusted follower, Yomogi,
showed up and started telling them all the evil things he’d done, there wasn’t
much left for them to say.

The rest of this is hearsay, but when the country lost their puppet leader, the
remaining officials all thought it was their chance to seize leadership, and the
whole place fell into chaos.

The three countries that had once owned the book, mirror, and katana vassal
weapons were all in disarray. But it if I knew Kizuna and her friends, it wasn ’t
hard to picture those countries eventually joining with L’Arc’s in a healing
alliance.

But enough about all that trouble—what about our curse?

L ’Arc summoned a specialized doctor to have a look at us, and here’s what he
said: “That’s a pretty bad curse.”

I think someone had said the same thing about me after I used Blood
Sacrifice.

When I got back to our world, I ’d have to go to some medicinal baths as soon
as . . .

“The only thing that will cure it is time. I estimate it will take at least two or
three months.”

“What? Hold on there! Isn’t there a hot spring for this kind of thing? Or some

medicine I can use?”

The doctor simply shook his head.

“This is a rather particular sort of curse. Furthermore, if it were to be applied
again before you fully recovered, I’m not sure that you would survive the
ordeal.”

WHAT ?!

That wasn ’t the sort of souvenir I wanted to take home after all this!

To make matters worse, this time it wasn ’t just me: Raphtalia and Filo were
cursed too, and they were very sluggish.

In hindsight, I ’m glad I didn’t use it on Rishia. I didn’t want to think about
what would have happened to her.

She probably would have died! Whatever made me stop before using it on
her , I was impressed .

“Oh no! I guess there’s nothing we can do about it now, but what a pain,”
Kizuna said, like she wasn’t actually worried.

Ha! This all should have been HER responsibility in the first place!

Oh well. I knew the risks when I used it.

“This is the result of availing yourself of the cursed weapon—and to think that
you took this burden on yourself for the sake of our world. I cannot begin to
express my gratitude,” Glass said.

“You can start by not letting this happen again. There are still three protective
beasts in our world. The last thing I want is another Kyo showing up and causing
trouble.”

“Naturally, Kizuna and I will fight to make sure this never happens again.”

“Definitely. But you know, Kiddo, I’m sure things will settle down for a while
once you return the Spirit Tortoise energy to your world.”

“You think?”

L ’Arc nodded.

“Yeah, at least that’s how it was for us. When the first protective beast fell,
there was a while where no waves came.”

“Things won’t go so smoothly if vassal weapon holders invade our world
before I get back.”

Why did there always have to be something to worry about?

“Relax. No waves means no visitors from other worlds, so you’ll have a lot less
to worry about.”

There were still plenty of things to worry about, but at least I could count on
the people back in Melromarc to be on the lookout.

The queen of Melromarc would have spread the word about the Spirit
Tortoise ’s possession while I was occupied with Kyo in this world.

“So the Spirit Tortoise is done. I’m just guessing, but that leaves the Phoenix,
Qilin, and Dragon. I guess we won’t have any problems until those seals are
broken too.”

“Probably. Not that I’m an authority on how your world works, Kiddo.”

That was a good point. Why did I bother asking them anything about our
world?

“I guess I’ll just keep hoping that another Kyo doesn’t show up.”

I had no idea how long the Spirit Tortoise energy would keep the waves at
bay.

But there were a lot of preparations that we needed to get under way while
we could.

We ’d have to collect the world’s armies and find new allies.

I learned a lot of new tactics to counter the threat of the waves during my
time in Glass ’s world.

I would have to make sure they were put to good use.

Fitoria was doing all she could to handle the waves that we couldn ’t cover on
our own, but if we wanted to survive what was coming, we’d have to find some
way to get the world to cooperate.

Just thinking about everything we had to do was depressing.
And worse—we might run into more people like Glass during the wave.
I couldn ’t wait to get back to my original world once all this was over—that
much would never change.
The world to which I was summoned was trash, a pile of filth. I couldn ’t wait
to leave it—that is, once I remade it so that Raphtalia could live there in peace.
“Sounds good to me, Kiddo! Time for a victory party!” L’Arc said, throwing his
hands in the air like a little kid.
“This guy . . .” I sighed.
“What? What’s the problem? Didn’t we just win a battle? Didn’t we just win a
war? What’s not to celebrate?”
“Rafuuu!” Raph-chan jumped up on her hind legs and tried to look cute.
I couldn ’t argue with that.
“Fine, fine. You’ll do what you want anyway, so I won’t complain. I’m going to
get some rest.”
“Yeah! The soldiers are in the mood for a party too. It’s going to be wild!”
L’Arc howled and left.
Whew.
We spent the rest of our time with Kizuna and her friends, drinking the sweet
liquor of victory. Actually that ’s just an expression—I’ve never been drunk.

It was nearly time to return to our world.
We made our preparations down in the castle courtyard, and Kizuna, Glass, L
’Arc and Therese, Ethnobalt, Alto, Romina, and everyone else came to see us
off.
Kizuna threw her hand in the air and came walking over.
“I guess a lot has happened since we met.”
“It’s only been a month or so.”

“Is that all? I guess it was pretty short.”
“I guess so.”

A holy hero from another world was someone I never should have been able
to meet, because of the limitations imposed by our weapons. In a way, it was
kind of miracle that we ’d met at all.

“I know we live in separate worlds, but I hope we can keep fighting on the
same side. I wish we could form an alliance between our worlds.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t spend all your time fishing, okay? As for your alliance,
consider it a verbal agreement. I don’t have any reason to break it.”

All I could do was protect people, after all.

The things we ’d learned in this world shook the mystery of the waves to the
very core.

What was I supposed to make of all we ’d heard? About one world extending
its lifespan by destroying another world?

“And you open up a little, okay? You can trust people you know.”
“Oh shut up!”

“Raphtalia, please take good care of Naofumi. Just like Glass and I, I hope
you’ll keep him close.”

“Yes, I intend to.”
“Filo, Rishia. I wish you both the best.”
“Yup! I learned a bunch of songs here, so Imma keep singing them when we
get back home!”

“Yes, I learned a great deal.”
Kizuna shook their hands and stepped away.
Glass came next.
“First we were enemies, then we became friends. Life can be so mysterious.”

“Sure.”
Glass looked at me very seriously, then bowed.

“Thank you very much for finding Kizuna. I do not know what awaits us in the
future, but I will do what I can to return the favor.”

“If you have to fight us, next time stop and explain yourself.”

“Is that really what you wanted to say?” Raphtalia scolded me.

“Things can change so quickly. Why keep fighting in the face of ignorance? I’m
just saying that if we have to fight, I at least want to know what I’m fighting
for.”

There were so many times that I ’d fallen into situations I couldn’t believe.
L’Arc and Therese came charging into the conversation, the adventurer, Boy, as
cheerful as ever.

“Anyway, let’s stay friends, eh Kiddo? I can’t wait to see you again!”

“I can wait. I hope it never happens.”

If it did happen, it would be in the middle of a wave or some other horrible
event.

We had to stop the waves. I didn ’t want L’Arc sitting around looking forward
to them.

Therese sighed, “The gemstones you made for me are sad to see you go.”

She was all decked out in the accessories I ’d made for her, and they were all
shining in the sun. She looked ridiculous! It was so bright! Stop flashing those
things at me!

“L’Arc . . .”

L ’Arc nodded gravely.

“I will. If I don’t, Therese is likely to escape to your world the next time a wave
comes.”

“I don’t think she’s that cold.”

I swear , this guy ’s girlfriend was really annoying.

Granted, she had helped us out plenty of times.

“Ms. Raphtalia, Filo, Ms. Rishia . . . I wish you all well.”

“Likewise. Please stay well,” Raphtalia replied.

“That reminds me . . . Boy.”

“You still calling me that, Kiddo?”

“You’re always talking about Raphtalia and the women as if they are little girls
—did you ever notice that?”

“I guess you’ve got a point there.”

Kizuna nodded.

“Alright already! Geez! What can I say, I don’t like calling people younger than
me by their names, alright ? There’re so many girls around here that it just
makes it easier to call them the same thing! What’s the problem with that?”

I kind of did have a problem with it, actually—but it wasn’t worth fighting
over.

“Besides, you’re one to talk, Kiddo! You’re always coming up with crazy
nicknames for people!”

“So are you.”

“Yeah, yeah, well . . .”

“You finally understand, don’t you, L’Arc,” Ethnobalt said, floating over.
“Thank you for everything. For all you did for Kizuna, Glass, L’Arc, and Therese.”

I couldn ’t shake the feeling that he was acting a bit familiar with me. Was it
my imagination? No. He was an attractive boy that was actually a giant rabbit.
Just like Fitoria, he acted like we’d known each other for a long time.

Filo ran over and clung to me, and Raph-chan hopped up onto my shoulder.

“Muuuu!”

“Don’t worry, Ms. Filo. It’s nothing like that,” Ethnobalt said, smiling softly.

This guy looked like your typical scholar-type.

Maybe he had true powers, like Fitoria, but different, that he ’d awaken to
soon.

“I won’t waste the experience that I earned while fighting with you.”

“I hope not. Good luck.”

He turned to Rishia next, “Ms. Rishia, I’ve heard about your amazing deeds in
the recent battle. I will work hard to become more like you.”

“Feh . . .” she muttered and her face flushed red with embarrassment. She
probably wasn’t used to getting compliments like that.

“Please take this book I found in the labyrinth library. I pray that it will be of
use to you.”

“Okay! Thank you!”

If I knew Rishia, she ’d figure out how to read it.

“And . . .” he said, reaching out and taking off a small anchor-like accessory
that was attached to the ship vassal weapon, passing it to me.

“What’s this?”

“This accessory was described in a book I found recently. Please take it with
you. I think it will prove . . . useful.”

“Oh . . .”

If he was giving it away, there was no reason not to take it.

“If it’s being offered, you’ll take it, no? You’re a merchant, after all.”

“Good point. But if I get going on that, you’ll never get me to shut up.”

“Excuse me. Mr. Naofumi is not a merchant. He is a hero,” Raphtalia
corrected Romina and Alto.

“Anyway, take this too—a going away present if you will,” Romina said
handing me a bag. It was heavy, and seemed to have all kinds of different things
in it.

I took a peek inside and saw that it contained accessories with this world ’s
special technologies, such as emulated drop item functions and wave-site-
teleporting.

There was a bunch of other stuff too.

These things didn ’t even exist back in our world—they were sure to come in

handy.

“I know you threw some other things in there too.”

I guess Romina had me all figured out.

As for Alto, if he smiled and gave me something, I would feel weird about it.

“You seem to think I’m some kind of miser—but you’re wrong about that.”

“Liar.”

“Yeah, that’s a lie,” Kizuna and Glass both chimed in.

But Alto didn ’t back down.

“I was able to make a pretty profit with all the crazy things you’ve been up to.
This is in thanks for that.”

“Ah, so that’s what you meant.”

He was like the slave-trader back in Melromarc. He’d eventually seen
increased profits because of me. Alto had a reputation for being a miserly
merchant, and it seemed to me that he’d earned that reputation.

“Ah, that’s right. Glass—”

I had a book of recipes written in Japanese. I gave it to Glass.

“What is this?”

“I wrote up a collection of recipes that you should be able to follow with the
tools and ingredients you’ve got in this world. Have Kizuna read it to you.”

You see , I hadn ’t just been wandering around randomly in a world I couldn’t
understand. A lot of the language in my status menu was garbled when we
crossed between worlds, so I’d been taking meticulous notes on what effects
had stopped working, and about the differences between the items we
collected.

Things that I couldn ’t make in this world, because the necessary materials
didn’t exist tended to show up garbled.

But we could use soul-healing water just like normal, and I could read it too.

That meant you could make it with materials from this world.

We were going to face tougher battles in the future . She’d need to drink soul-
healing water like normal water. So I wrote down the recipe for it.

“This should do the same thing. Try it out.”

“Wow! You’re pretty impressive, Naofumi.”

“You could be too if you ever did anything besides fishing. But actually, you
need fish to make that recipe, so she’ll need your help with that.”

To make the medicine that worked like soul-healing water from materials
available in their world, they ’d need a certain type of rare fish.

I ’d found it by accident while analyzing a catch that Kizuna had been
particularly proud of.

“Thanks! I’ll do what I can!”

“Don’t let this world’s other holy heroes die or anything.”

“Oh . . . right. Yeah, we’ll do what we can.”

We both had problems with our fellow holy heroes, so I knew how she felt.
We shook hands.

“And watch out for Alto.”

He was sharp alright .

Who was left? Oh— Yomogi, Tsugumi, and the other women.

“Kyo did terrible things. Leave the rest to us.”

“Say that to Kizuna too. I made him pay for his crimes and his helper too. I
even killed their souls.”

“Yeah.” Tsugumi said. She looked like she still harbored negative feelings
about me, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. “If you all hadn’t come, this never
would have happened.”

“We won’t be back—feel free to hate us all you like.”

What was with her? Did she come just to whine about us? ”

“. . . Yet, you also saved us all. Thank you for setting———free. Kyo used him
even after his death. Thank you.”

A wind blew through at just the wrong time, and—once again—I couldn’t
catch Trash #2’s name. I decided to give up on trying to figure out what it was.
Tsugumi would probably just get mad if I asked again. And besides, I probably
wouldn’t catch it. I decided to just ask Raphtalia about it some other day.

“I wonder if we’ll ever know why he was so obsessed with the katana of the
vassal weapons.”

“Hey that reminds me. Did you say that there were some Spirits in your group
that went missing?”

“. . .”

Tsugumi said nothing, but nodded.

Some of their bodies had been found in a basement room of Kyo ’s mansion.

Apparently Kyo had taken Trash #2 ’s soul from his body and used it to feed
soul eaters.

The Spirits that had followed him around learned of the truth and were all
killed for it.

So many people had died. Including Albert, the holder of the mirror vassal
weapon, who met the same fate as the rest of them.

“The katana was essential to the wellbeing of the country. But there’s no way
for us to know why he was so confident that it would choose him to wield it.”

Raphtalia drew the sword, then held it horizontally out to Kizuna and the
others.

“I return this vassal weapon to you.”

Right, I guess she didn ’t have a choice. Even if it had chosen her, we couldn’t
take this world’s vassal weapons with us.

We owed the weapon a lot though. It had helped us when we needed it most.

“It doesn’t look like it wants to leave you.”

“And for some reason, it didn’t summon her when the wave occurred.”

Glass and Therese, who was a Jewel, touched the blade and spoke to it, but it
didn ’t respond to them.

Kizuna touched it too, and nothing happened.
“It’s no use. It’s hard to explain, but it has a sense of duty to her, and it
seemed to have complex emotions. It will not answer to us.”
“Do you know what it wants? Is its will clear?”
“We only have a vague sense of its intention.”
Hmm . . . Did it mean that Raphtalia was going to be able to take it back to the
previous world with her?
“Perhaps it feels responsible for Kyo’s actions against your world. Perhaps it
wants to fight for the sake of your world—at least until this world really needs
it,” Kizuna said.
The katana shimmered with light in response.
“Looks like Kizuna might be right.”
“Hm . . .”
We talked about a lot of things, but we were running out of time.
Soon enough, we ’d run out of time all together.
“Alright!” I barked, smiling wickedly. “We’ll take the katana vassal weapon
with us then! You all can just wish you had it!”
“Aww, Naofumi’s pretending to be a bad guy again.”
“Kiddo’s always doing that.”
“He’s actually a really good person.”
Kizuna and her friends sighed as they analyzed me.
Raphtalia just shook her head. Filo looked confused.
Rishia was looking all around in nervous twitches. Raph-chan jumped up onto
my shoulder and waved goodbye to everyone.
“I guess it’s really time to say goodbye.”
There were only a few more seconds on the timer.
When it ran out, we ’d be summoned back to our world automatically.

“Our weapons will probably keep us from seeing you again, but we had an
alright time while it lasted. Later.”

“Yeah, goodbye. Naofumi, thank you for helping me. If you hadn’t shown up,
I’d still be trapped in that labyrinth. We’ll be in different worlds, but we’re
heroes on the same side.”

We were all waving goodbye now.

“Naofumi!” L’Arc shouted, loud and clear.

They all waved and shouted together in unison: “Thank you!”

Their words echoed in my ears, but before we could answer the counter ran
out, and we were transported back to our world.

We passed through a tunnel with a strange light on the way, but it was over in
a flash.

—And we were back in the world we came from.









The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol. 9
© Aneko Yusagi 2015
First published by KADOKAWA in 2015 in Japan.
English translation rights arranged by One Peace Books under the license from
KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Japan

Written by Aneko Yusagi Character Design Seira Minami Cover Design by
Yusuke Koyama English Edition Published by One Peace Books 2017

Printed in Canada

One Peace Books
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